http://twitter.com/#!/garyvee
Nothing else, he has 850k followers on Twitter. Mostly organic. I think it is safe to say, 99.5% of "Social Media Experts" do not have 500k+ followers.
Nothing else, he has 850k followers on Twitter. Mostly organic. I think it is safe to say, 99.5% of "Social Media Experts" do not have 500k+ followers.
It's true that having over 500k followers puts you in the top 700 Twitter users.
It's equally true that having over 500k followers does not automatically make someone a "social media expert" (Donald Trump, Lindsay Lohan, & Nicole Richie are in that list - I don't think I'd hire them for social media strategy).
Is it also true that you can't be a social media expert with <500k followers? I don't know the answer to that one, probably not.
It's definitely true that Gary V's follower count alone does not confer expert status, nor deny it from anyone else.
It depends on the niche and market size. I know someone who runs a social media consultancy in the rural area I live who does well out of training people on this stuff and she only has about 800 followers. She's an expert to them, although she's obviously not Gary Vaynerchuk or whatever.
It's also not fair to compare him to celebrities like Trump or Lohan. They were already famous when they joined Twitter. Gary started at the bottom. I have no idea what he's done for clients with social media, but in terms of his own personal brand, he has crushed it (pun intended).
I can tell you that as I've reached out twice from the UK. I was trying to buy 150 copies of TYE!
I'm a big fan, but his star lost some of its sparkle when I didn't get a response.